ProArteDanza returns with its Fall 2025 Season, which takes place from October 30 to November 2 at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. After last year’s closure of the Fleck Dance Theatre, it’s a return to the company’s original home stage.
Since the company was founded in 2004, ProArteDanza has presented over 40 original works, and the new season includes three more.
The Works
Artistic Director Roberto Campanella has created a new ensemble work for the company titled Another Life: Inspired by True Events. Campanella has received accolades that include the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Choreography, the Bonnie Bird Choreography Award nomination, and the Fellowship Initiative Award. He has also worked on film and television projects, including The Strain and the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water.
The season includes a trio by choreographer Kevin O’Day titled An Unwinding. O’Day has an international career that has included creating more than 70 ballets for companies around the world, including New York City Ballet and Les Grands Ballet Canadiens. His honours include a Dora Award nomination, the Koerner Award from the Banff Centre, and an MTV Video Music Award nomination for choreography.
Choreographer Dominique Dumais makes her ProArteDanza debut with a piece for six dancers called Memento Vitae. Dumais is Artistic Director of Mainfranken Theater Würzburg and a former soloist with the National Ballet of Canada. She’s created more than 45 works that have taken the stage across the globe, and is a three-time Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee.
Artistic Director Roberto Campanella: The Interview
Roberto Campanella was born and grew up in Rome, Italy, and trained at the Scuola Italiana di Danza Contemporanea. After dancing as a member of Compagnia Italiana di Danza Contemporanea, Aterballetto, and The National Ballet of Canada, he formed ProArteDanza. LV caught up with Campanella as the company was in rehearsals for the upcoming shows.
“It’s crunch time for us. Every day seems to be quite intense,” he says.
It’s also a milestone season for ProArteDanza. “We have existed for 20 years. It feels very lucky.”
Did he imagine this is how his career and company would endure?
“No, not really. Originally, I was always of the idea that I would take over something already established, and not starting something from scratch.”
He founded the company with Joanna Ivey, also a former professional dancer.
“We just decided to take the leap,” he recalls. “I had no idea about anything,” he laughs. “I was pretty naive about what the whole thing entails.”
Leading a dance company in North America has always been a perilous venture.
“It’s dealing with a lot of uncertainties year after year. It always boils down to the bottom line, the funding and the fund raising.”
In his native Italy, and more broadly in Europe, in previous decades, many companies were 100% government funded. In North America, he has to take on the task of fundraising and much more.
“It’s a little bit more intense as a job,” he comments. “I’m not here to complain. Already I feel incredibly privileged,” he adds. More than two decades of dance is already a gift, he points out.
“I feel like we’re pretty strong,” he adds, noting the solid support he’s received from audiences.
“There’s a lot of fulfillment with what we do with what have.”
There’s so much going on behind the scenes for every season, and every single show.
“I wish I had the ability to have people coming constantly in rehearsals, and to have access to what we do behind the wings.”
He mentioned the work done by the board of directors, general manager, training coordinator and many others who never take the stage.
“It’s a constant,” he says. Passion and enthusiasm are what fuels it. “We live with it.”
There’s a process of trial and error, rehearsals, second guessing…
“Again, once I see the company on stage perform, all of this is forgotten.”
He says he loves the process, being in the studio and seeing the works take shape with the few resources that they have.
“There’s something very satisfying about it,” he says, “to sit and witness the performance, the culmination of all this, is incredibly rewarding.” He cites the commitment of the dancers along with the behind the stage support staff. “It’s really moving.”
The 2025 ProArteDanza Season
“We have three different works,” he says. “We have a trio — just three dancers.” That’s the work by Kevin O’Day, with music by Neil Young.
“He’s been incredibly supportive since the beginning of the company,” Campanella notes. The last time a work of his appeared on their program was in 2017.
Dominique Dumais’ Memento Vitae is a 35 minutes work.
“The piece is fantastic,” Roberto comments. “Dominique and I go way back when we were both dancers at the National Ballet. That was a million years ago now,” he laughs.
He’s followed her career in Germany.
“We were supposed to actually have Dominique create for us just before COVID,” he notes. “I’m really glad we made it happen this year.”
As for his own piece, Another Life: Inspired by True Events?
“I’m still working on it,” he says. “I always talk about the cycle in which I go through. I go from being excited for the first couple of weeks — then you go into the self doubt period.”
He talked to Joanne Ivey about it. “I’m doubting every single choice I’m making, and she said, you know that it’s part of the package,” he says.
“I’m doing this new creation called Another Life, inspired by true events. It’s almost biographical. It’s the first time I’ve tried to do therapy with my life.”
He’s exploring key moments in his life via dance, but not taking them too seriously. “Which is also part of my personality.”
It sounds like an intriguing mix of elements. “I hope so.”
The music will also include a mix of things, including some Italian music, including works by singer and pianist Paolo Conte. “I could compare it with Leonard Cohen style.” Other selections will include electronic music, and even a lullabye. “It’s really eclectic. As it stands right now, it will be about 34, 35 minutes — unless I cut things.”
Overall, it makes for a dynamic show.
“And it’s a dancey dance show. Incredibly physical, athletic, intense, and we’re an amazing group of dance artists that we have,” he says. “It’s a real dance treat. I love putting mixed programs together. I love it.”
Final Thoughts
“I go by love. I fall in love with choreographers, and I say, you have to create something for us. But it also has to match the style of the company. It’s a contemporary dance company,” Campanella says.
“To be a good fit with out vision. That part is very exciting, to put it together.”
He looks for a special quality when it comes to collaborators.
“There are a lot of choreographers, and I guess it was my early days as well, it was always about steps.”
He points out that in Italian, there are two words for choreographer, one which translates into “step maker” while the other is “choreographer”.
“I always fall in love with people who use the dance vocabulary to use a really clear concept. I watch a lot of dance, online especially, and I generally, my pattern has been to be attracted to choreographers who really have something to say. To build a concept,” he explains. “It’s contemporary dance. It’s not a linear narrative,” he adds.
“They allow you to really imagine things, because you can sense that they’re speaking to you,” he says. “With step makers, it’s exciting for about 10 minutes, but then [I get] bored.”
- Find tickets and show details for ProArteDanza Fall 2025 [HERE].
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